Lincoln Elementary Overcrowding Crisis

Hey Everyone,

Below is an excerpt from an e-mail that I received from Alderman Michele Smith:

Dear Lincoln Park community,

As many of you know, over the past few years, Lincoln Elementary has become intolerably overcrowded, leading this year to the cutback of some educational programs (art, music and French have been decreased) because every available room has had to be converted into a grade classroom. There are 809 students enrolled, which is, according to CPS guidelines, 21% over capacity. Since I've been in office, Lincoln's principal, the local school council and I have been trying to get answers.

Last night, CPS officials told parents at Lincoln Elementary that they are proposing to handle the problem by limiting the enrollment boundaries of Lincoln Elementary to north of Armitage, and by directing new kindergarten families who live south of Armitage to LaSalle Language Academy. CPS's theory behind this move is that LaSalle has a similar excellent academic record to Lincoln (which is certainly true), and further, that CPS lacks the money to build any additions to schools in our area.

Here's how CPS said it would work (and here is the factsheet handed out at the meeting):

• Students currently enrolled at Lincoln would remain at Lincoln.
• Students currently enrolled at LaSalle would remain at LaSalle.
• The new southern attendance boundary for Lincoln would be Armitage Ave. All the Lincoln attendance area below Armitage Avenue would become LaSalle's boundary, beginning with incoming Kindergarten students in Fall 2012. Here is a map: .
• For families living north of Armitage, there would be no change.
• For families living south of Armitage, Lincoln would no longer be their neighborhood school - it would be LaSalle. CPS will do a study to determine the number of siblings of current Lincoln families who live south of Armitage to decide whether such siblings will be allowed to enroll at Lincoln. If there are not too many, the siblings will be able to attend Lincoln. If there are too many, there may have to be a lottery among the siblings. CPS agreed that if any parents south of Armitage do NOT want to consider LaSalle as a potential school for a new kindergartener, they should get an application in elsewhere immediately.
• LaSalle would not have a new magnet enrollment for Fall of 2012. Instead, the Fall 2012 Kindergarten would be composed of siblings of those already enrolled and neighborhood children living south of Armitage. With each passing year, LaSalle would become less of a magnet school and more of a neighborhood school. CPS would make NO commitment to siblings of out of area children beyond next year's class.
• CPS would make NO guarantee that LaSalle's existing magnet resources, meaning its language program, would continue. A group of LaSalle parents have been trying for years to have a modest addition built to the school to offer ancillary space. Under the CPS' proposal, this addition would not be built - but worse, as LaSalle becomes more of a neighborhood school, the very program that made it great would likely end.

I disagree with this plan. First, it does not solve Lincoln's immediate problem: there will still be overcrowding for 8+ years. Second, it continues to diminish the educational experience at Lincoln - art and music classes have been cut back, and classroom sizes have increased. Third, while many neighborhood parents would like to attend LaSalle, it makes no sense to threaten to destroy a very valuable and successful program.

This proposal is not a plan for the future. Five new preschools have been opened in the 43rd Ward in the last year. There could be as many as 800 new units of housing built due to developments at Children's Memorial and Lincoln Park Hospital, and at least the Lincoln Park Hospital units are squarely within the school boundaries. These should be welcome developments: that means that more families are choosing to stay in the city, pay taxes, and send their kids to excellent public schools. CPS's reaction is that, because there are a large number of out-of-area kids at Alcott, Newberry, LaSalle and Oscar Mayer, that these schools should eventually become neighborhood schools before adding capacity.

Finally, this plan gives no thought about what to do with Lincoln Park High. I've been asking for more resources at the high school to make it the school of choice for all of our students - with no response other than a promise to "look at it."

This is a tough issue in these times. The proposed modest addition to LaSalle has been estimated at almost $3 million dollars. An addition to Lincoln, or the renovation an old school (located on Sheffield Ave.) as a middle school could cost at least $5 million. A new school would cost twenty million dollars (we hear the new Ogden Elementary cost $60 million). Having just been through the budget process, I know the city is overextended.

But we are the people who have made a bet on our city, who have invested thousands of dollars into our homes and our local schools to make them both thrive. Lincoln Park today represents the investment of thousands of people in their community over 40 years to improve our schools. I will fight to have a solution that works for us and our children. Please send me your feedback. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Your alderman,

Michele Smith

43rd Ward Alderman

Any thoughts?